Recreation Opportunity Class: Roaded Natural

Location: Six miles north of Grand Marais

Access: From Grand Marais take County Road Number 12 (the Gunflint Trail) and travel six miles north from the Ranger Station. The ski trail is on the left (west) side of the Gunflint Trail and is indicated by a Forest Service sign.

Although this trail is not groomed, it is frequently used and almost always has a set of tracks on it. The trail is used occasionally by snowshoers which helps to keep the trail packed. The trail runs through the George Washington Memorial Pine Plantation and continues toward Elbow Creek declining only 10 feet over the .75 mile (1.2 km.). Here the skier must either return on the same trail or bushwhack. The ski trail is not marked but is easy to follow.

Most of the forest along the Gunflint Trail in this area burned in the fire of 1927. The George Washington Memorial Pine Plantation was established when thirteen boys from the Grand Marais Boy Scout Troop #67 planted 32 acres of land with 14,570 Norway Pine and 7,500 White Pine in 1932. Since that time, parts of the plantation have been replanted and in 1975, the Youth Conversation Corps (YCC) pruned some of these pines along the Gunflint Trail.

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